Fate-Crossed Lovers
by Ungulateman
Summary: It was all those damned javelins' fault. Thankfully, the four of us aren't too proud to admit our mistakes. It might take some time, and we'll face plenty of challenges, but we'll all end up happy, with the people we love.
1. Chapter 1

Gangrel, the Mad King who robbed Ylisse of its ruler and Chrom of his sister, is finally slain, and the war with Plegia can finally end. There will be time for reparations and reconciliation later - right now, all the Shepherds want to do is celebrate.

Vaike and Lon'qu are drinking, but the dour swordsman can't hope to compete with the brash axe fighter, not when his fiancé Lissa is sitting there, her little pouting face whenever he chugs down more ale making him smile sheepishly and slide it away.

Donnel's regaling his friends with stories of his life on the farm. "…an' then, the pig slid twenty feet in th' mud, bowled him head over heels, then went and done shat on his head!" He finishes his tale with a guffaw, and the group gathered around him has cracked up too. Sully laughs the loudest before diving into an equally sordid tale about a courtesan and one of her squires.

Gregor has associated himself with Basilio of all people, likely old fighters swapping stories of life on the road. His 'companion' ("Gregor does not think of Nowi as wife. People see Gregor and little girl who is wife, they throw many sharp things at handsome baby face, yes?" I remember him explaining) Nowi is equally enthralled in her conversation with Flavia; the thousand-year old dragon-kin was probably there when Regna Ferox was founded, but she shows remarkable deference towards its current leading ruler.

Tharja's watching me from the corner, the sorceress pretending to remain engaged in conversation with Gaius, but he's determined to grab her attention. The thief even starts throwing pieces of his precious candy at her, and she merely pokes at his lips, sealing his mouth shut with some sort of hex. I wince; I really wish she wasn't so obsessed with me, especially when Gaius ended up being the fall-guy for it.

My mind is on relationships tonight for good reason, though; I have an engagement ring in my pocket and I know exactly who I was going to give it too, until earlier today. If it wasn't for those damnable javelins, this would never have happened.

Chrom, my prince and lord liege, and Sumia, my love, my maiden of flowers. Fate is cruel to place him between me and her, but what am I to do? I could never love another; but I'm just the army's tactician - skilled, certainly, and a friend of the prince, but his word is law and the woman he wants is the woman he gets.

The woman that wants him, on the other hand, is left out to dry. Cordelia, the perfectionist. A fellow pegasus knight, like Sumia, but not filled with self-doubt and the breathless ideals of the novels; she's hardened, realistic and down-to-earth, save for the eternal torch she bears for Chrom. She really is an amazing woman, but she could never love another.

I get up and walk over to the redheaded knight left out in the cold, even in the warmth of the Plegian night. "Cordelia?" I ask, and she turns, a sad, wistful smile on her face. I finger the ring in my pocket. "I was thinking, recently…"

0o0o0

"So, milady, I noticed a new addition to the royal stables," I ask, carefully hiding the longing in my voice as I address the soon-to-be queen of Ylisse. The dining room is palatial, unsurprisingly given it's in the royal palace, but small enough to feel appropriate for the six of us to sit.

Chrom, future Exalt of Ylisse, pokes listlessly at the sausages in front of him with one of his many forks. His usually brilliant cobalt hair seems duller than normal, and I could swear the Brand of the Exalt on his shoulder, proof of his noble lineage, isn't as clear and distinct as it used to be. Something is ailing him, but I hold my tongue, for that would merely invite the same question in return.

Sumia, his betrothed, smiles back at me after I ask my question, either unaware of the joyful pain her smile brings to me or sadistically enjoying it - probably the former. She's radiant as ever, looking just as beautiful in noble dress as she does in the armour of a pegasus knight. I notice she's kept the little hair pin she wore in the Shepherds, holding her long brown hair up. "Oh, yes!" she says cheerfully, another twist of the knife in my heart. "It's a black pegasus! They're extremely rare. I've heard they respond well to magic users, unlike regular pegasi."

"Yes, captain Phila always told me never to cast spells while riding a pegasus," Cordelia says. "Only healing magic is safe, and even then actually _casting_ it is another matter. She could do it flawlessly, of course, but none of the rest of us could." My fiancée smiles sadly at the memory of her deceased captain, and her face, as pretty as it is, is shrouded in the same melancholy I can never seem to lift. Chrom's immediately brought to attention when she speaks, and I supress the urge to yell at him, "_Why didn't you choose her in the _first_ place!?"_

My thoughts are interrupted by a series of giggles like ringing bells coming from further down the table, where Lissa and her husband Lon'qu are enjoying themselves thoroughly. It's amazing how her presence changes him - Lon'qu was barely able to look at a woman, let alone speak to one, and yet now he's nearly guffawing in laughter at whatever zany antics the princess is up to. They're happy, more than we'll ever be.

I realise with a start that all four of us are silently watching the happy couple now. There's a clash of emotions on Chrom's face, joy at his sister's happiness and a certain longing mixing uneasily on his features. Cordelia is much the same, though she half-heartedly tries to hide it when she notices I notices. Sumia is simply beaming in happiness, whether it's obliviousness to our predicament or merely a façade.

"Did you want to come see him?" the queen-to-be asks me, referring to the black pegasus, and I nod in return.

"I'd like that. Hmm, I wonder if black pegasi react differently to male and female mages…" I drift off in thought slightly, trying to recall a treatise I swore I read on the topic, before Cordelia nudges me back into the present.

"Go on," she says, the same small sad smile on her face again, and she resumes picking at her meal, sighing almost inaudibly.

"Cordelia?" Chrom asks, and her transformation is miraculous, going from wistful and content to elated and joyous in an instant. "I've been thinking recently about the great heroes of history, and I noticed many of them wielded lances. I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me learn."

She almost yells "_Yes!"_ in response, but first she glances to me, and I nod. "Go on," I echo ironically, and the four of us smirk a little, before splitting off into pairs. Prince and pegasus knight, queen and tactician, we all go our separate ways.

0o0o0

The latest addition to the royal bestiary is an impressive specimen, sixteen hands high at the shoulder and a fearsome-looking beast. His coat's as black as charcoal and his eyes gleam with a fiercely controlled energy. I certainly wouldn't want to be staring him down when he swooped down on me across the battlefield.

_Sumia swooping down across the battlefield, rescuing Chrom in the nick of time from a hail of javelins, the moment I realised she was the one for me._

_Cordelia appearing like a vision to our rear, warning of the incoming Plegians, red-tipped lance matching red-tipped head as she strikes again and again and again in the name of her fallen comrades._

"It almost seems a shame to geld such a magnificent mount," I idly comment, aware of how dangerous an unchecked stallion would be on the battlefield. "Imagine the pegasi he'd sire!" I raise a hand to stroke his neck, and surprisingly, he doesn't recoil in shock and fear like a regular pegasus would. He's uncomfortable under my touch, and I don't linger, but he lets me make contact.

_Our gloves meeting as we exchange books, nothing touching but the warmth of our hands, and yet we're both burning like furnaces afterwards._

_Cordelia's face going bright red after her musical performance on Chrom's birthday, the prince's comradely hug making her feel like she could fly without her mount._

She sighs, but it's a sigh of acceptance, not of longing. "Black pegasi are sterile," she explains, combing his mane with an expensive-looking brush. "They're born, at least according to the legends, when a pregnant pegasus drinks from a mystical spring and a special ritual is performed. You can't breed them intentionally."

"Oh." Yet another fascinating fact for me to devour in my endless pursuit of knowledge, I snark to myself. Speaking of pursuing knowledge, I completely forgot a very important question. "What's his name?"

"Oh, of course, how did that slip my mind? He's called Michalis, after the prince of ancient times." I think back, remembering the young royal who fought both against and with the Hero-King, astride a mighty wyvern with lance in hand.

_The book's called _Wyvern Wars: Battle at High Noon_, and while it's no literary masterpiece, it's as good as she said it was. Better, even, since she was the one who let me borrow it._

_Chrom with lance in hand, awkwardly thrusting it like his far more familiar Falchion, under the watchful gaze of Cordelia as he trains._

"It's a good name, proud and stately," I reply. The corner of one of my books jabs me in the stomach as I fidget, and I recall another thing that had slipped my mind. "Is it alright if I see how he responds to my magic?"

She smiles that infuriatingly beautiful smile again, nodding. "Of course! I'd stand back, though, in case he's jumpy because of your gender."

I smartly retreat a pace or two, drawing my spellbook from my robes. I flick through it, examining page after page of intricate diagrams and symbols, considering which spell to test. I settle for an Elthunder, a moderately powerful incantation but one which shouldn't pose a hazard to the building or its occupants, unlike a fire spell.

Taking aim at a training dummy in the shape of a horse (intended for anti-cavalry troops to train with, though what it was doing in the stables I may never know), I unleashed the spell, the ink on the page burning away to channel my mana into fuelling the attack. A bolt of lightning arcs from my outstretched hand to the mannequin (horsequinn?), and Michalis starts only a little.

_She starts a little as I enter her tent, becoming her character for a moment as fantasy and reality collide. By the time I leave, she's become the princess who fell down the stairs, and I can only wish I was a knight in shining armour._

_Chrom starts a little as Cordelia takes his hand, guiding him through the stabbing motion he needs, subtly adjusting his posture, just unabashedly making contact with him._

Sumia soothes the bothered stallion with a light brush across the withers, and he settles immediately and smoothly. She turns to me with yet another gods-damned smile, and I involuntarily groan in a mixture of longing, pain and frustration at her naivety. "Why are you always _smiling?_" I snap. "How can you be so happy when your husb-" I somehow manage to rein myself in before I let the obvious slip.

Her face falls as I silence myself with a hand over my mouth, but she simply pulls it away, our bare skin touching for the very first time. She looks me in the eye with a confidence I didn't know she had, and I'm left speechless. "I know," she says barely above a whisper, hints of tears in her eyes.

"What-" I begin, and she squeezes my hand hard enough to cut me off.

"I may not be a genius like you, but I'm not a fool," she says sincerely. "Chrom tries, he really does, but he's not in love with me. And I know Cordelia doesn't love you the way she loves Chrom. You love her, but not the way you love…me." Her gaze drops, and her sudden resolve seems to weaken.

"And not the way that I love you."

0o0o0

The barracks was empty in the wake of the Mad King's defeat, even the Shepherds taking a well-earned break. Chrom and Cordelia retrieved a pair of training lances from the armoury, idly making small talk all the while.

"-Stahl's become so convinced he's average, I swear he's going out of his way to make it so," Cordelia rambled. "Yesterday I caught him calculating how many sweets all the Shepherds eat so he could work out the average - I told him to cut out the top and bottom ten percent or he'd kill himself trying to keep up with Gaius."

Chrom sniggered, honest-to-gods sniggered at the thought. "I never thought of Stahl as a mathematician; I suppose I've only really considered his combat prowess, rather than who he is as a person."

"He's certainly not an average musician, at any rate; I've been playing the harp alongside him recently, and he's astounding me at how fast and well he's learning."

Reaching the usual training grounds, the pair took up positions, before Cordelia immediately frowned and shook her head. "No, that won't do at all, Chrom."

"Hmm?" The prince replied, confused. His grip certainly felt natural, and when he moved the lance around, it flowed well enough. "What's wrong?"

"You're wielding a lance the way you think people wield them," she explained. "That grip probably feels fine, but it's flimsy as" here she effortlessly knocked the lance out of his hands with her own "the Exalt's smallclothes." Pausing, she realised exactly what that idiom implied, given Emmeryn's unfortunate demise and exactly who inherited that position.

Chrom merely goggled, partly at the lance now lying several feet away, partly at the mental image her comment had produced. "Anyway!" he said, completely disregarding Cordelia's last statement as he retrieved his weapon, "how about you show me how to wield a lance properly?"

Walking over to stand side-by-side with the new Exalt, Cordelia demonstrated how she held her lance. "If I remember what you said, your sword technique is based on Feroxi axe fighting, which is the polar opposite of how I've learned to use a lance."

Chrom nodded in response, trying to match the pegasus knight's grip. "Yes. Since Falchion is indestructible, I can afford to use as much force as I can manage in my blows. I suppose I'm going to have to change that."

"Depending on the lance, you can still rely a lot on raw strength. Your body type would probably be best suited for a heavy lance, like a foot knight's. You need to spread your feet quite wide to lower your centre of gravity, especially in heavy armour." She withheld a comment on how broad his shoulders were and how all that tight, powerful muscle would make his centre of gravity higher, but she felt her face heat up regardless.

"I see. What about if I was mounted?" Chrom asked, making a mental note to first find Kellam (no easy feat) then talk to him about using a lance on foot. "I think your experience as a pegasus knight would be more relevant on horseback than on foot."

Cordelia nodded, somewhat relieved that she could switch to an area of her expertise. "Yes, that's quite different, and also different from using a sword while mounted. Here…" She took his hand in hers, patently ignoring the blush on her cheeks, and shifted his grip farther back on the shaft. "Since you have the height advantage and generally some momentum behind you, you need a strong grip, but it can afford to be further back and less precise than when you're on foot."

This continued for a few minutes, and Cordelia grew steadily less and less embarrassed by the physical contact with Chrom. Eventually, though, he spoke up again.

"Cordelia." Her captain wasn't questioning her now. This was him commanding attention, and she gave it fully and eagerly. His eyes, so recently dull and placid, now burned with energy and zeal as she met his gaze. "What do you know of the Magvellian sagas?"

She paused, recalling dimly-remembered conversations with her fiancé, his passion for the ancient legends not impacting her the same way. "The twin prince and princess, and the demon king, you mean?" she finally responded, recalling the gist of the stories.

He nodded, and he looked down to the Brand on his shoulder, that potent reminder of his lineage. "Most of the stories tell of the princess and her deep, abiding love to the knight that was her saviour. Whenever I see Lissa and Lon'qu, and I remember him saving her from those bandits, those tales remind me of how history so often repeats itself."

"But there is another story, of the princess' brother, the prince Ephraim, and the woman he loved."

"Tana…" Cordelia gently answered. She knew all the great pegasus knights of history, myth and legend, and how they had won the hearts and mind of friends, enemies and their lovers. Caeda and Hero-King Marth. Florina and Marquess Hector. In an odd twist, the queen Elincia and the mercenary Ike. Prince Ephraim and Princess Tana.

"Ephraim married Tana after the war against the demon king ended, and the bards tell tales of the happy life they led together."

Meeting her eyes again, Chrom's small, sad smile made her chest burn in painful joy. "Cordelia, I have wronged you, and I want to make it right. I was hasty, after the war, and I made a poor decision in my haste; I chose to please the people rather than myself or my friends."

He took her other hand in his, and with them clasped together in front of their chests, he spoke with total and utter conviction. "Sumia knows our true feelings, both of us; she loves another, just as we do. I love _you_, Cordelia, and I always have. Be the sword at my side, and I shall be the wind beneath your wings."

0o0o0

A/N: Thanks for reading this! Please, leave a review.

To cut a long story short, as much as Cordelia is my _complete and utter waifu_, I'm very disappointed that the game dooms Chrom and Cordelia to never be together. It completely spits in the face of the game's message of "you can change destiny" and "we make our own future". Plus, Severa as Chrom's daughter would be A: hilarious ("I am the _princess_ of tsundere!") and B: absurdly strong (Sorcerer with access to Armsthrift, Galeforce and Aether? Yes please). So I started writing this story to resolve the problem and explore the impact such a relationship dynamic would have on the game. (Don't worry, game mechanics aren't going to play a major role in this story, I just wanted to mention it.)

I'm at least a little inspired by 'Asleep' taking a similar stance on "screw destiny, let Chrom and Cordelia have little blue-haired babies forever", as well as 'Potentia Amoris' (I think? Might be another story) for the "Avatar loves Sumia, then Chrom marries her" cliché. Fire Emblem itself belongs to IntSys and Nintendo.

The Avatar's appearance and name aren't mentioned because I didn't want to put a description at the top or try and shoehorn it into the text (I hate "his hair is x and his shirt is y and he is wearing shorts" in stories). For the record, his name's Charlie, and he's 1-4-5-1. Future chapters will refer to him by name, and we might even get better character descriptions if I stop being terrible at writing.

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed the first taste of this tale, and I'd love it if you came back for more eventually!

Ungulateman


	2. Chapter 2

To be entirely honest, I was expecting a bigger upset when the four of us revealed our sudden change of heart. The royal wedding was a massive affair, meant to reaffirm the future of Ylisse after the Exalt's untimely demise. Rumours had spread about the wife Chrom would choose like wildfire, regardless of plausibility - my personal favourite was that I was secretly a woman who had used my front as the army's tactician as a way to woo the good prince.

The only people who knew for certain about Chrom's initial decision were the Shepherds and most of the royal staff, and it was remarkably straightforward to gather them all together. We invited all the Shepherds who stayed within Ylisse after the war to reunite for a banquet at the palace, to celebrate the prince's upcoming wedding. Naturally, we didn't specify _who_ he was marrying, so Sumia received a lot of unwarranted goodwill. Gregor sent Cordelia a 'Condolences' letter in gloriously broken Ylissean, which provided endless entertainment for the four of us.

It's a pleasant spring evening, warm and fragrant with freshly bloomed flowers. Some of us had made an attempt at dressing for the occasion, but quite a few Shepherds haven't bothered; Vaike put on a shirt, at least, while Nowi's found a darling little Naga-themed dress somewhere in the city. Anna, the perpetual spendthrift, came in her usual outfit. Others, like Sully and Frederick, chose dress uniforms, while Lissa's dazzling her suit-clad spouse with a cheery saffron sun dress.

Tharja's back in Plegia, which I couldn't be more thankful for. She'd probably take Cordelia wedding Chrom as an _opportunity_ to get at me. I notice Gaius gesturing to me, and I walk over, the flickering robes of a Grandmaster all the formal dress I need. "Bubbles," he whispers, his panicked tone at odds with my bizarre nickname. "Man am I glad to see you."

"What's the problem, Gaius?" I ask back, a little confused by his unusually downcast mood. He was unflappable back in the Shepherds, as long as he had his sweets. My mind races with the potential bad news he might bear.

"Sunshine's gone and replaced you with me, that's the problem," he replies, and I start at the thought. Tharja's obsession with me has gone? I'd be thankful, if it didn't put Gaius in the exact same situation. "She keeps trying to drag me into Plegia. She threatened to _kill all my taste buds _if I didn't come with her. How do I deal with the crazy sorceress?" he pleads.

I rub my chin in contemplation. "Find a woman to hide behind," I answer, as if it's sage advice for the ages. "It worked for me."

He cringes. "Brilliant." Slipping away like the practised thief he is, I find myself alone once more. Chrom and Cordelia won't be here for a few more minutes, and Sumia is nowhere to be found. I decide to head out of the dining hall and into the gardens for some peace and quiet.

My peace and quiet doesn't last, not with a drunk Ricken - _who gave him alcohol!?_ - having a very loud conversation with Maribelle about their noble houses. I groan and head back indoors at that. I manage to find a seat away from the food and drink, and Sumia joins me.

We share a smile. We share a drink. We share another, and before I know it, Lon'qu has pulled me out of a deep kiss with a scowl etched on his face. "You've had far too much to drink," he angrily spits in defense of his supposed sister-in-law.

"What are you thinking!?" Lissa demands, causing Sumia to giggle, her cheeks rosy red. "You're getting married and you go and do…do…_this_!?"

"I _am_ getting married," she declares happily, "yes. I am."

"Then why are you _kissing Charlie_?"

Sumia's latest round of giggles is infectious. When I start laughing as well, Lon'qu slaps me across the face. "Snap out of it!" he growls.

Of course, Chrom walks in to see his sister and brother-in-law berating and beating up two of his best friends. His exasperated sigh captures everyone's attention, and when he brings Cordelia in, hand in hand, you could hear a pin drop. Slowly, deliberately, they share a kiss of their own.

Lissa and Lon'qu exchange glances, slowly stand up straight and back away, then turn around and pretend absolutely nothing had just happened. I take Sumia's hand again, and we stand up (albeit a little unsteadily).

"To the new queen of Ylisse!" I declare in my best voice of authority, raising my glass. "Cordelia!"

The Shepherds heartily approve.

0o0o0

Naturally, pleasing the Shepherds alone isn't enough. A potential bride has to meet the approval of the royal council, even if the councillors are more than happy to accept anybody Chrom chooses. Sumia and I stand in a private balcony over the council chambers, both of us trying to avoid attracting too much attention despite our privileged positions. A modest crowd of curious citizens has been allowed access to the chambers for this momentous occasion, the guards standing relaxed but ready. Chrom's impatiently waiting for the council to finish their oaths to the gods, but he hides it well.

"Gentlemen and ladies of the royal council," he begins once the formalities have ended. He's as direct to the point as ever. "It is my duty and pleasure to introduce my chosen bride to you all; Cordelia Catriona, Shepherd and interim Captain of the Pegasus Knights."

She enters the room with a slow, purposeful grace, wearing her dress uniform in its usual immaculate condition. A ceremonial lance, far too ornate and heavy to ever wield, rests on her back, its colours perfectly coordinated with her armour. There's only the slightest traces of makeup on her face, and her hair is unadorned bar the usual wing-clip above her left ear. This is not a meek maiden who will do nothing but breed Chrom's heirs, but she radiates beauty and refinement nonetheless.

I smile at the newfound confidence and poise she displays, squeezing Sumia's hand in mine as we watch her approach the 'throne'. It's far too decorative a word; the Exalt's seat of power is no higher than the rest of the room, and has only the slightest embellishments to distinguish it from the council's. The true glory of the Exalted bloodline is in its inheritors, not trinkets and baubles, and both Chrom and Cordelia exemplify that magnificently.

She stands to his side, not taking the seat adjacent to her prince's just yet. I've read of particularly arrogant suitors of the bloodline sitting down before the council's decision, and it was the one surefire way to be rejected by the council; hubris is not an attractive trait in a potential Exalt.

There's some faint mutterings from the two dozen or so officials who are judging her, but the majority seem pleased. A quiet internal discussion begins and ends with unusual haste from the bureaucrats, and one of them stands up to represent the apparently-unanimous agreement.

"Lord Chrom," he says in his reedy, overly formal voice. "The council approves of your decision. Gods bless your marriage."

A polite but energetic cheer rises from the common people below, and Sumia lays her head on my shoulder as we share a glance and a smile at the happy moment. The guards quell it soon enough, though a pleased hubbub of conversation continues. The other balconies share our sentiments - Lissa is grinning broadly, though she's as silent as her husband, knowing what happened the last time she got too vocal during a council meeting. Sully manages to limit her response to loud clapping, and Stahl's enthusiasm for the royal couple is definitely above average.

Down below, Vaike is trying to keep the crowd going, but I spot a flash of orange hair and I supress a sigh at yet another successful con job by the duo of 'The Vaike' and 'Sticky-Fingers Gaius'. "One day, those two will be married, and the world will be safe again," I comment quietly, earning a snort from my own future wife.

"I pity the woman who thinks she can handle 'the Vaike'," she replied.

0o0o0

Sumia and I had a quiet little ceremony with the other Shepherds a few weeks before the royal wedding. Honestly, it felt so _right_ to be married that neither of us really felt a grand event was needed. Gaius was the best man and Sully the 'best woman' - to quote her, "there's no damn way you're getting me in a dress, not even for Sumia!"

My wife, on the other hand… If her dress (almost the entire ceremony, in truth) hadn't been paid for by the Shepherds, I probably would have been left destitute. She may not have wanted an ostentatious wedding, but she still wanted to dress for the occasion. I caved into wearing a proper suit rather than my robes; Vaike was making whip-crack noises for _days_.

The rings were a simpler affair; silver bands, inscribed with the image of a pegasus and the phrase 'Deus Fugam'. As I slipped hers on, I'm proud to admit, I cried. Sumia wasn't so reserved and shed tears of joy for most of the day.

Libra officiated for us, though some political manoeuvring had precluded him doing the same for the royal couple. He doesn't seem to mind being snubbed by the nobility in favour of some 'appropriately birthed' priest, but I digress.

Chrom and Cordelia attended covertly, of course. The news of their upcoming wedding had spread just as fast as the false rumours surrounding it, so while we did want them by our sides when we wed, we also didn't want the inevitable crowd of strangers who would be attracted by their public presence.

The details of our wedding night are mine and Sumia's alone, unless we decide to disgust our future children with the details of their parents' union, many years from now. Suffice it to say neither of us had any idea what we were doing, and that made it all the sweeter.

0o0o0

Michalis snorts good-naturedly as I approach, Sumia on his back as she gets to grips with riding the black pegasus. "Good morning," I call out, taking a seat on the lush hillside where she's practicing. There's barely a cloud in the sky, and I believe it won't be long before my wife is confident enough to take her mount to the air.

"Good morning!" she calls back, subtly leaning to stay in the saddle. He wasn't easy to break in, but Sumia's natural talent with animals proved just as useful here as it did with her first pegasus. For now, she's ground-bound, not wanting to risk injuring herself or Michalis.

I draw out my spellbook, flicking through it for the spell I need. I begin summoning twisters of elemental magic, letting them lazily spiral towards the winged horse. This is a regular part of our training; the air magic is strong enough to cause him some pain, but too weak to leave lasting harm. I get to practice my hand at some less traditional magic, Sumia gets a better feel for guiding her mount, and Michalis himself improves his evasiveness.

He effortlessly weaves through my first set of whirlwinds, so the next set is a veritable barrage of miniature tornados. Sumia yelps a little as he leaps over a low, wide-set gust, spreading his wings to stay aloft just a moment longer. I supress a mischievous grin; I've been trying to get him airborne for a while now, and this is the first time I've managed it with Sumia on his back.

She scowls in mock anger at me when they return to the ground, and I let up a little on the magical obstacle course. "I was going to get him in the air eventually," she says.

"I know that, dear," I reply. "I'm just trying to help." After one last gauntlet, I put my spellbook away, and Michalis nickers in delight at another successful run. When Sumia draws out her own, though, I can see him almost shrivel in fear, and I barely stop myself from laughing at the reaction. I shouldn't laugh; my wife is trying so hard to improve, and the last thing she needs is me mocking her, even by proxy.

Brow furrowed in concentration, she manages to produce a fairly stable Fire spell. It's small, and it fades away into the air only a short distance away, but in fairness, she is casting it from the back of a mount she's still unfamiliar with riding. I nod my approval, and her sweet smile fills me with contentment.

0o0o0

A/N:

Thanks for reading! Please, leave a review if you have anything to say.

I have no idea why I decided to write three ongoing stories right when I'm entering university. It's probably because I'm an idiot. Unfortunately, Fate-Crossed Lovers is the most drabble-y of the three, so it's going to see less attention than the others.

Next chapter (whenever it comes) will focus more on Chrom and Cordelia, since this one was pretty Avatar/Sumia centric. Hope to see you soon.

Ungulateman


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